A native of Youngstown, Ohio, Gerald Lamont Thomas is the Pastor of the Shiloh Baptist Church in Plainfield, New Jersey. He was called to Shiloh in March 1997, becoming the eighth pastor at the church. He was licensed to preach by the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church of Los Angeles, CA, under the pastorate of the late Dr. E. V. Hill and ordained by the Third Baptist Church of Youngstown, OH, Dr. Morris W. Lee, Sr., Pastor.
Dr. Thomas earned both his Ph.D. and M.Div. from Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He received a B.A. in Economics from Howard University in Washington, D.C. and is the former Professor of Preaching at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He served as Pastor of the Pilgrim Baptist Church in Midway, KY, the Burnett Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, KY, and the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Philadelphia, PA. In July 2006, Dr. Thomas became the President of The New Jersey Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.
(PNBC, Inc). He was appointed by the National President of PNBC, Inc. to Chair a newly formed National Task Force on Social Justice for Public and Social Policy. Recently, Dr. Thomas was appointed to serve on the Justice and Advocacy Commission (JAC) for the National Council of Churches USA. On April 3rd of this year, Dr. Thomas was inducted into the Martin Luther King, Jr. Collegium Hall of Scholars at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA.
In March of 2005, the Shiloh Baptist Church Family held its “first” worship service in their new $13.2 million state of the art church edifice – a “miracle” achieved within two years and five months. The new church edifice provides seating for 1100 people; two giant video screens assist the worship service; a 700-seated Community Life & Cultural Arts Center; a state-of-art kitchen, media technology, gymnasium, administrative offices, classrooms, music room, a nurse’s office, nursery and a food/clothing pantry.
Pastor Thomas’ leadership and vision for education and learning and through SIBLE – Shiloh’s Teaching Ministry, the doors of The Union County TEAMS Charter School opened September 2005 to serve 180 students in grades K-8. The primary focus of the school is technology, engineering, architecture, math and science, which Thomas observed was necessary to increase minority participation in the construction trades.
Dr. Thomas is the Founder and President of Shiloh’s faith-based, non-profit, community development corporation known as SHEELD – Shiloh Economic and Entrepreneurial Life-Long Development Corporation. He is the President and CEO of S’RUO, Inc. – Spiritual Resources for Unlimited Opportunities, a consulting firm for church management and business development. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors for the Metro Board of New Jersey’s American Cancer Society and Global Trade and Technology Center based in New York City.
Among his many contributions, Dr. Thomas authored an insightful book entitled: African American Preaching: The Contribution of Dr. Gardner C. Taylor. The book offers a rhetorical and historical study of African American preaching and highlights the life, ministry, and preaching methodology of Dr. Taylor, the premier dean of preaching and Pastor Emeritus of the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, NY. Several seminaries across the country are using the work as a textbook for preaching. A scholar, anointed preacher, gifted teacher, visionary, author and administrator Pastor Thomas has preached and lectured across the United States, Africa and the Caribbean.
